Teutonic Knights in Texas

Jon Presco <braskewitz <at> yahoo.com>
2006-02-16 20:29:10 GMT

Teutonic Knights in Texas
"Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels, the first commissioner general,
lived in Texas and provided for the immigrants that arrived."
"New Braunfels, TX, is celebrating its Teutonic past by holding a 10-
day Wurstfest beginning Halloween eve. The central Texas community
received its Germanic heritage from Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels,
who in 1844 purchased a 1,200-acre tract of land and re-sold it to
Texas settlers. The city is hoping to attract tourists to the
festival, which includes biergartens, sausage-eating contests and a
water park."
I suspect Germans, who were descendants of the Teutonic Knights,
made an attempt to rule California and Texas before they became
States. I believe my Stuttmeister kin were Prussian Nobles descended
from the Teutonic Knights who were California Pioneers and the
founders of two cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, Belmont -
where William Ralston held a court of Artists and Freethinkers - and
Fruitvale, that was later incorporated into the City of Oakland.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2005
http://www.imperialcollegeofprincesandcounts.com/
"In 1842, a group of twenty-one German nobles met to deliberate a
plan to settle Texas. Two years later they formed the Society for
the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, also known as the
Adelsverein. Counts Ludwig Joseph von Boos-Waldeck and Victor August
of Leiningen set out to explore and acquire land in Texas and to
determine the necessary provisions for settlement. Boos-Waldeck
named the land they bought Nassau Farm, which is presently located
in Fayette County. Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels, the first
commissioner general, lived in Texas and provided for the immigrants
that arrived."The `48ers, a scholarly, wealthy class of Germans,
arrived in Texas amidst the German Revolutions of 1848. Some of
these settlers, known as the Freethinkers, formed experimental
colonies like the communistic town of Bettina. They were commonly
atheistic or agnostic."
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fso3.htmlhttp://web2.unt.edu/untpress/catalog/detail.cfm?ID=165
New Braunfels, TX, is celebrating its Teutonic past by holding a 10-
day Wurstfest beginning Halloween eve. The central Texas community
received its Germanic heritage from Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels,
who in 1844 purchased a 1,200-acre tract of land and re-sold it to
Texas settlers. The city is hoping to attract tourists to the
festival, which includes biergartens, sausage-eating contests and a
water park.
NEW BRAUNFELS -- Celebrating its Teutonic heritage, New Braunfels
stages its annual 10-day Wurstrest, a sausage pig-out starting on
Halloween eve.
http://www.imperialcollegeofprincesandcounts.org/
"The Germans built close-knit communities and held on to their
customs. Many settlers envisioned the formation of a separate German
state, and Texas' Republic status made the idea seem more feasible.
Even in Philadelphia and New York, societies formed with this
ambition in mind. Eventually the idea of a separate state dissolved,
but these societies were among many whose common goals unified the
German settlers."
ORDER OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS OF ST.MARY'S HOSPITAL IN JERUSALEM
6oth Chivalric Hochmeister: 2002-
H.I.&.R.H. Prince Karl Friedrich of Germany,
Duke of Swabia, Herzog von Saxe-Altenburg,
de jure Charles VIII I.R.
65th/7th Clerical Hochmeister: 2000-
Abbot Dr. Bruno Platter.
( Princes of The Holy Roman Empire )
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/germans.htmlhttp://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/leiningen.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genbaden2.htmlhttp://genealogy.euweb.cz/leiningen/leiningen6.htmlhttp://www.imperialcollegeofprincesandcounts.com/http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/AA/ufa1.html
Hin' nach Texas!" "Off to Texas!"
By Sheena Oommen
________________________________________
Facing economic turmoil in the 19th century, Germans were lured by
letters describing the untapped potential of Texas. They chose to
leave Europe amidst growing economic problems and overpopulation,
launching a massive migration to the Mexican territory, independent
nation, and eventual state of Texas.
Although the Bavarian government discouraged emigration by
implementing a complicated application process, and even fining
those who left, the desire to travel abroad remained strong. In the
early 1800s, at least fifty books circulated in Germany illustrating
life in America. Texas accrued fame in Germany largely from the
works of Gottfried Duden. Duden's accounts, first read in 1829,
received wide exposure. German newspapers frequently printed stories
of German immigrant life in Texas. People who publicized Texas
settlement conveyed the beautiful topography, the availability of
large plots of fertile land, and the plethora of wild game to hunt.
They touted the chance for improved social and economic conditions
with Texas' lower cost of living. Friedrich Ernst earned the title
of the "Father of the Texas-German Immigrants" due to his influence
in drawing settlers to the new territory. From Germany, he traveled
to New York and then made his way to Texas. A native of the Duchy of
Oldenburg, Ernst described his experiences in the early 1830s in
letters to old friends; and he swayed many to pack their bags and
follow his lead. He advertised the land he had settled on, which
came to be known as the town of Industry. In 1834, Detluf Dunt
encouraged immigration in his book Reise nach Texas, which contained
some of Ernst's writing.
The `48ers, a scholarly, wealthy class of Germans, arrived in Texas
amidst the German Revolutions of 1848. Some of these settlers, known
as the Freethinkers, formed experimental colonies like the
communistic town of Bettina. They were commonly atheistic or
agnostic. Carl Postl's glorified Texas in his 1841 novel The Cabin
Book, although it is unclear whether Postl ever visited Texas.
Frenchman Henri Castro's pamphlets spread the word about Texas
across Europe in the 1840s and aided in the colonization of
Castroville. Although most German publications wrote favorably of
Texas immigration, some opposition existed. Georg Franz wrote
editorials questioning the lack of adequate preparation for the
large, expensive endeavor over the Atlantic and into a strange
territory.
In 1842, a group of twenty-one German nobles met to deliberate a
plan to settle Texas. Two years later they formed the Society for
the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, also known as the
Adelsverein. Counts Ludwig Joseph von Boos-Waldeck and Victor August
of Leiningen set out to explore and acquire land in Texas and to
determine the necessary provisions for settlement. Boos-Waldeck
named the land they bought Nassau Farm, which is presently located
in Fayette County. Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels, the first
commissioner general, lived in Texas and provided for the immigrants
that arrived. The Adelsverein's goals were commercial. Promoters
aimed to open up new trade markets and amass natural resources from
the land for Germany. The same year, Henry Francis Fisher and
Burchard Miller landed a grant situated inside the Llano and
Colorado Rivers. Members of the Adelsverein collaborated with them
to colonize the Fisher-Miller Grant. The Adelsverein promised the
settlers comfortable and spacious ships, reasonable travel charges,
free transportation to the settlement, and ways to find shelter and
make a living. The Adelsverein's visions were idealistic, and
organizers were overwhelmingly unprepared for the conditions
awaiting their settlers. Lack of financial and administrative
foresight haunted the Adelsverein, as immigrants found themselves
stranded, often without adequate shelter, in a unfamiliar land.
Solms-Braunfels established Karlshafen, later known as Indianola, as
the designated point of entry for the first settlers. They
established their first community at Comal Springs, which became the
city of New Braunfels.
Solms-Braunfels resigned from his post on February 20, 1845 and
Baron Ottfried Hans Freiherr von Meusebach took over the reins. He
assumed the American name John O. Meusebach. Meusebach confronted
dire problems upon taking over. As the number of immigrants swelled,
he founded the city of Fredericksburg. New groups of immigrants were
arriving, but the society, with its dwindling resources, failed to
equip them with promised provisions. A major debt-propelling factor
was that the actual cost of housing and transportation turned out to
be far higher than what the Adelsverein charged its settlers. Those
who arrived at the onset of the Mexican War lost access to horses
and wagons, which the government had purchased to fight the war. To
make matters worse, the settlers were constant prey to inclement
weather and disease. Many struggling immigrants wrote letters home
warning of the toil and torment that awaited others who decided to
trek across the Atlantic.
Remarkably, the Germans developed civil relations with the Indians.
Meusebach arranged a meeting with a group of Comanche chiefs, and
they ratified a peace treaty in 1847. They reaped another benefit by
starting profitable trade with each other. Meusebach's long red
beard earned him the nickname El Sol Colorado by the Comanches.
Hermann Spiess was the next commissioner general of the Adelsverein,
followed by Louis Bene in 1852. In 1853, deeply in debt, the
Adelsverein ended its Texas colonization campaign.
The Germans built close-knit communities and held on to their
customs. Many settlers envisioned the formation of a separate German
state, and Texas' Republic status made the idea seem more feasible.
Even in Philadelphia and New York, societies formed with this
ambition in mind. Eventually the idea of a separate state dissolved,
but these societies were among many whose common goals unified the
German settlers.
German Texans actively participated in politics, and by 1846 a
German language version of Texas law was in place. In 1851,
Meusebach began a term as a Texas senator. A number of Germans
fought in the war for Texas independence. Despite the general desire
to remain with the Union, many Germans fought on the side of the
Confederacy in the Civil War. During this war there was a break in
immigration. As soon as the war ended, immigration renewed
explosively.
Their general aversion to slavery distinguished the Germans from
their Anglo neighbors. Dr. Carl Adolph Douai, a Freethinker and
editor of the San Antonio Zeitung, candidly criticized slavery in
the newspaper. Germans also were distinct from their neighbors
because of their language and traditions. Careers centered around
agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, and trade, making the Germans
largely self-sufficient. This precluded the need to travel outside
to Anglo communities.
Emphasis always lay on the preservation of German identity. In
schools, students learned both English and German. German
settlements usually offered free schools. New Braunfels eventually
offered all of its young students a completely free primary
education. In 1853, the singing society Sangerbund held its first
German music festival. It has grown in popularity among not only
German Texans, but also out-of-state participants of different
ethnicities. While many German activities dissipated during World
War I and II due to discrimination, the Boerne Village Band
maintained an important presence. It has been applauded by Germany
and the Texas Legislature for its preservation of German music.
Ludwig von Roemer and Louis and Robert Kleberg, who settled the town
of Cat Spring in 1832, are known for introducing Texas to its first
piano, which they shipped from Germany. Kleberg's son eventually
became the owner of Texas' famous King Ranch. Newspapers like the
Galveston Zeitung and Der Bettelsades also helped perpetuate German
heritage. August Siemering, who became a lieutenant in the
Confederate Army, published the newspaper Freie Presse für Texas.
Texas continues to celebrate the Texas-German heritage with events
such as Octoberfest, Wurstfest, Schützenfeste, and German Culture
Month.
The German immigrants' mark on Texas is found in place names, like
Schulenburg and Shiner; it's heard in the popular cultural
influences of Adolf Hofner, and the accordion in Tejano and Zydeco
music; and it's experienced in the easy-going temperament in the
face of tremendous obstacles that gave Texas its motto, "the
friendly state."
The `48ers, a scholarly, wealthy class of Germans, arrived in Texas
amidst the German Revolutions of 1848. Some of these settlers, known
as the Freethinkers, formed experimental colonies like the
communistic town of Bettina. They were commonly atheistic or
agnostic. Carl Postl's glorified Texas in his 1841 novel The Cabin
Book, although it is unclear whether Postl ever visited Texas.
Frenchman Henri Castro's pamphlets spread the word about Texas
across Europe in the 1840s and aided in the colonization of
Castroville. Although most German publications wrote favorably of
Texas immigration, some opposition existed. Georg Franz wrote
editorials questioning the lack of adequate preparation for the
large, expensive endeavor over the Atlantic and into a strange
territory.
In 1842, a group of twenty-one German nobles met to deliberate a
plan to settle Texas. Two years later they formed the Society for
the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, also known as the
Adelsverein. Counts Ludwig Joseph von Boos-Waldeck and Victor August
of Leiningen set out to explore and acquire land in Texas and to
determine the necessary provisions for settlement. Boos-Waldeck
named the land they bought Nassau Farm, which is presently located
in Fayette County. Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels, the first
commissioner general, lived in Texas and provided for the immigrants
that arrived. The Adelsverein's goals were commercial. Promoters
aimed to open up new trade markets and amass natural resources from
the land for Germany.
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/germans.htmlhttp://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/leiningen.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genbaden2.htmlhttp://genealogy.euweb.cz/leiningen/leiningen6.html
BOOS-WALDECK, COUNT LUDWIG JOSEPH VON (1798-1880). Count Ludwig
Joseph von Boos-Waldeck, cofounder of the Adelsvereinqv and one of
its first representatives in Texas, the son of Count Clemens of Boos-
Waldeck and Montfort and Lady Johanne of Bibra, was born in Koblenz,
on the Rhine River in what later became Germany, on November 26,
1798. He was descended from a line of Rhenish knights and nobles
dating back to the thirteenth century. Little is known about his
youth and education, but he began his military career in the
Prussian army. He left that service in 1832, however, to become aide-
de-camp, with the rank of major, to Duke Adolf of Nassau. In 1837
the duke promoted him to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
http://tinyurl.com/d58q9http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/texasczech/Studies/Chronology.htmhttp://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/texas.htm
The next man was Nedjelko Cabrinovic. He was better prepared and at
approximately 10:15 he stepped out and hurled his bomb at the
Archdukes car. The Archdukes River quickly accelerated when he saw
an object flying at the car. The bomb exploded under the wheel of
the next car in the procession. Eric von Merizzi and Count Boos-
Waldeck were both seriously wounded along with about a dozen
spectators who were hit by bomb splinters.
SOLMS-BRAUNFELS, PRINCE CARL OF (1812-1875). Friedrich Wilhelm Carl
Ludwig Georg Alfred Alexander, Prince of Solms, Lord of Braunfels,
Grafenstein, Münzenberg, Wildenfels, and Sonnenwalde, the first
commissioner-general of the Adelsvereinqv and imperial field
marshal, was born at Neustrelitz on July 27, 1812, the youngest son
of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Solms-Braunfels and Princess
Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Prince Carl's illustrious
connections included Prince Frederick of Prussia, Queen Victoria,
Czar Alexander I of Russia, King Leopold I of Belgium, and Prince
Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Not only well connected, but also
handsome, highly spirited, and romantic, the trilingual Carl was
educated both as soldier and courtier. Because of his connections,
he secured prestigious military assignments, awards, and
knightships, even though in 1839 he was sentenced by a Prussian
court martial to four months in prison as a result of having
absented himself from his command without leave. An early morganatic
marriage, which had commenced in secret in 1834, dimmed his
prospects after it became known, until, under duress from all sides,
Carl consented in 1841 to the putting away of his wife, pensioned as
the Baroness Luise "von Schönau," and his three children by that
marriage. That same year Carl became a captain of cavalry in the
imperial army of Austria, progressing though prominent assignments
in the Balkans, Bohemia, and the Rhineland. While stationed at the
imperial garrison at Biebrich, he read Charles Sealsfield's novel
about Texas (see POSTL, CARL ANTON), William Kennedy'sqv geography
of Texas, and G. A. Scherpf's guide to immigrants to Texas. As one
of the twenty-five members of the Adelsverein, organized initially
in 1842 and reorganized in 1844, Carl worked tirelessly to promote
the growth, finances, administration, and political acceptance of
the society. He lobbied his many relatives, traveled incognito
through France and Belgium to the Isle of Wight, where he may have
met with Prince Albert, and, along with other members, secured the
covert support of England, France, and Belgium for the Texas
colonial project, which was at once philanthropic, mercantile, and
political.
In 1844 Carl was appointed commissioner-general for the first colony
that the society proposed to establish in Texas. Provisioned with
two cannons, table linens, and twelve place settings, he traveled to
London, where his assistant's diary suggests there was a royal
audience, then to the United States, and westward down the Ohio and
Mississippi to the Republic of Texas,qv where they arrived in
Galveston on July 1, 1844. A series of letters, subsequently turned
into formal reports, trace the route and detail Carl's growing
comprehension of North American culture, commerce, and geopolitics.
Seeing himself at the head of a migration of German artisans and
peasants to what one of his colleagues called "the new Fatherland on
the other side of the ocean," the visionary Carl wrote, "The eyes of
all Germany, no, the eyes of all Europe are fixed on us and our
undertaking: German princes, counts, and noblemen...are bringing new
crowns to old glory while at the same time insuring immeasurable
riches for their children and grandchildren." In preparation to
receive the German settlers and to protect them from what he
considered the bad influences of the Anglo-American frontier, Carl
purchased land on Matagorda Bay for the establishment of a port of
debarkation named Carlshafen, or Indianola. He also traveled
extensively throughout Texas and advised the Adelsverein, which
already owned the right to settle Germansqv in the remote Fisher-
Miller Land Grant,qv to buy even larger expanses reaching southward
from the Llano River to Corpus Christi Bay and westward to the Rio
Grande. Further, he communicated to Texas officials the threat of
possible war with Britain, France, Russia, and Mexico should
annexation occur. After the arrival in December 1844 of the
society's first settlers, some of whom he left at Indianola, or
Carlshafen, the prince led the first wagon train into the interior
of Texas. Near Victoria, he left the immigrants and proceeded to San
Antonio in order to conclude the purchase from Juan Martín Veramendi
and Raphael C. Garza of a fertile, well-watered tract on the
Guadalupe and Comal rivers. The immigrant train reached this tract
on Good Friday, March 21, 1845, and founded the settlement of New
Braunfels, named for the Solms ancestral castle on the Lahn River,
southwest of Wetzlar. Before Prince Carl left New Braunfels for
Germany on May 15, 1845, he saw the work on the Zinkenburg, a
stockade on a bluff on the east bank of Comal Creek, almost
completed and work well underway on the Sophienburg, a fort on the
Vereinsberg, a hill overlooking the old residential section of New
Braunfels.
After he returned to Germany, Carl resumed his military service,
from which he had been given a year's leave, and on December 3, 1845
at Bendorf, he married Sophie, the widowed princess of Salm-Salm and
the daughter of the reigning prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-
Rochefort. In 1846 he published Texas, a clear and succinct
geography and guide to Texas. During this time Carl also wrote a
fifty-nine-page memoir, transmitted to Queen Victoria in 1846, in
which he explained that Europe and the westering United States were
on a collision course to dominate world trade. America would likely
win this race, Carl told the queen, if the United States reached the
Pacific. He offered containment through colonization, the
establishment of a powerful monarchy in Mexico, and the emancipation
of the slaves as England's surest policy. Carl remained active in
his support of the Adelsverein, in which his family had heavily
invested. In 1847, for example, he helped to recruit the Forty,qv an
idealistic fraternity of students that eventually settled in the
Fisher-Miller Land Grant.
His checkered military career continued. He left the Austrian army
and became a colonel in the cavalry of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in
1846. An attempt to rejoin the Prussian army failed. In 1850 the
Austrian army accepted him again, and by 1859 he had become a
brigadier with command of dragoons on Lake Constance. In 1866,
having also drawn Hanover into the conflict, he took part in the
unsuccessful war of Austria against Prussia. As commander of an
imperial corps, Carl failed, was recalled and reprimanded, but
acquitted by court martial. He retired as a field marshal in 1868 to
his residence at the estate of Rheingrafenstein near Kreuznach on
the Nahe River. Prince Carl died seven years later, on November 13,
1875, at the age of sixty-three, at Rheingrafenstein. He was
interred in the city cemetery of Bad Kreuznach. Sophie died the next
year. They were the parents of five children, four of whom survived
them. Characterized by one of his German contemporaries in Texas as
a "Texan Don Quixote" and by an eminent German historian as the last
knight of the Middle Ages, Carl is a complex character, more
romantic and individualistic than practical and accommodating. His
two fixed passions, for which he was acknowledged to have had an
expert eye, were fine horses and ruined castles-to which, in the
early 1840s, he added empire-building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chester William and Ethel Hander Geue, eds., A New
Land Beckoned: German Immigration to Texas, 1844-1847 (Waco: Texian
Press, 1966; enlarged ed. 1972). Theodore Gish, "Carl, Prince of
Solms-Braunfels, First Commissioner-General of the Adelsverein in
Texas: Myth, History, and Fiction," Yearbook of German-American
Studies 16 (1981). Glen E. Lich, "Archives of the German
Adelsverein, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale
University," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 91 (January 1988).
Glen E. Lich, The German Texans (San Antonio: University of Texas
Institute of Texan Cultures, 1981). Glen E. Lich and Dona B. Reeves,
eds., German Culture in Texas (Boston: Twayne, 1980). Wolf Heino
Struck, Die Auswanderung aus dem Herzogtum Nassau, 1806-1866
(Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1966).
Glen E. Lich and Günter Moltmann
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fso3.htmlhttp://web2.unt.edu/untpress/catalog/detail.cfm?ID=165
New Braunfels, TX, is celebrating its Teutonic past by holding a 10-
day Wurstfest beginning Halloween eve. The central Texas community
received its Germanic heritage from Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels,
who in 1844 purchased a 1,200-acre tract of land and re-sold it to
Texas settlers. The city is hoping to attract tourists to the
festival, which includes biergartens, sausage-eating contests and a
water park.
NEW BRAUNFELS -- Celebrating its Teutonic heritage, New Braunfels
stages its annual 10-day Wurstrest, a sausage pig-out starting on
Halloween eve.
PRINCIPALITY OF SOLMS-BRAUNFELS
H.M.S.H. Prince / Furst von Solms-Braunfels.
(Sovereign Prince of The Holy Roman Empire)
PRINCIPALITY OF SOLMS-HOHENSOLMS-LICH
H.M.S.H. Prince / Furst von Solms-Hohensolms-Lich.
(Sovereign Prince of The Holy Roman Empire)
PRINCELY COUNTY OF SOLMS-SONNENWALDE
H.M.Ill.H. Count / Graf von Solms-Sonnenwalde.
(Sovereign Princely Count of The Holy Roman Empire)
PRINCELY COUNTY OF SOLMS-RODELHEIM UND ASSENHEIM
H.M.Ill.H. Count / Graf von Solms-Rodelheim und Assenheim.
(Sovereign Princely Count of The Holy Roman Empire)
New Braunfels [broun'fulz]
Pronunciation Key
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